Amid row over Huawei exec, China sentences Canadian man to death for drug smuggling
UPDATED ON: JANUARY 14, 2019 / 10:33 AM / AP
Beijing -- A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death Monday in a sudden retrial in a drug smuggling case that is likely to escalate tensions between the countries over the arrest of a top Chinese technology executive. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was concerned that China had decided "arbitrarily" to apply the death sentence in the case.
The court in northeastern Liaoning province announced that it had given Robert Lloyd Schellenberg the death penalty after rejecting his plea of innocence and convicting him of being an accessory to drug smuggling. It gave no indication that the penalty could be commuted, but Schellenberg's fate could become intertwined in diplomatic negotiations over China's demand for the top executive's release.
Schellenberg was detained more than four years ago and initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2016. But suddenly last month, an appeals court agreed with prosecutors who said the sentence was too lenient, and scheduled Monday's retrial with just four days' notice.
Read more at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-canadian-robert-schellenberg-death-sentence-huawei-executive-meng-wanzhou/
I think China's just thumbing their nose at Canada and the international community.
Schelenberg:
And I think he's probably innocent.
Before incarceration, he looked very different, maybe he was into that scene. Still, I doubt it.
Source:
https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/canadian-man-robert-schellenberg-sentenced-to-death-in-china/news-story/10ab044308812ba23f47185c5f640cec
